Issue 24 | April 2023
Welcome to the April edition of Pass It On News.
A bi-monthly newsletter bringing you the headlines and new policies, procedures and guidance from your West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board.
KEY POINTS: March 2023 Board meeting
Last month we held the final meeting of the Safeguarding Adults Board in the 2022/23 year. The topics discussed included:
- a deep-dive into the work of the Quality Assurance and Safeguarding Information Group (QASIG);
- updates from the subgroup Chairs;
- updates from key partners, including Sussex Police, Community Safety, and Public Health.
The next Board meeting is scheduled for June 2023.
In a separate meeting the Board met to plan ahead for 2023/24 and to agree the Board priorities for the coming year. The following priorities will feature strongly in our 2023/24 Annual Business Plan:
- Self-neglect
- Embedding learning and assurance
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PUBLISHED: Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR) in respect of Beverley
We have recently published the Safeguarding Adults Review in respect of Beverley. To make a difference and ensure there is learning, please read our Review along with our accompanying Learning Briefing and 6 minute Podcast, and share with staff in your organisations.
Beverley was a 67-year-old lady and a much-loved Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, Sister, Aunty and friend. She was described as a very proud and independent person, and the “matriarch” of a very large family. Her family contributed to this Review significantly with their voice central to the process and to ensure a making safeguarding personal approach.
The Review made recommendations in relation to multi-agency working, workforce skills and knowledge, and person-centred care.
Beverley’s family shared the following statement:
“We are extremely grateful for this review being done but also find it very sad that it took our Mother’s, Grandmother’s, Great Grandmother’s, Sister’s, Auntie’s and friend’s death for her voice to be heard.
We hope lessons have been learnt and that the necessary changes will be implemented and that all involved will go away from this and really reflect and strive to remember that within their individual roles, the most important person of a multi-disciplinary team, is the person themselves. Their voice and their family’s voice should always be at the forefront of their care.
Nothing will bring Bev back and she should never have had to go through what she did, but we feel that her voice is being heard now, and lessons have been learnt so that hopefully no one else has to go through what she did. This will be the legacy that Bev left.”
PUBLISHED: Safeguarding audit resources
In 2021/22 the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board carried out two audits of safeguarding records. These audits focussed on transitions and safeguarding, and self-neglect. The aim of these audits was to evaluate and reflect on practice; learn from experience; inform multi-agency practice development; and strengthen multi-agency working.
Following the completion of these audits, we have now published learning briefings and podcasts summarising the outcomes, both of which you can access via the Additional learning resources page of our website.
Please share this widely within your organisations and networks. And, don’t forget, to support your Continual Professional Development (CPD) we have created a CPD Reflective Log for your use. Please feel free to use this to track, and reflect on, the professional development that you complete using our resources.
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PUBLISHED: New voice recorded presentation on learning from Reviews
The West Sussex Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (WSSCP), West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board (WSSAB) and West Sussex County Council’s Community Safety & Wellbeing have created a voice recorded presentation on learning from Reviews. The presentation is a learning aid for all staff across our partnerships and provides:
- an overview of what Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPRs), Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) and Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) are
- details of the four common themes across our Reviews
- questions staff can ask themselves related to the themes, to review and reflect on their practice
- information on resources available
- our contact details
By using this presentation, staff will be able to understand similarities across our Review findings and reflect on how their practice can be adjusted to minimise future risk for children and adults in West Sussex.
We would be grateful if you could please share this with all staff in your agencies and promote in your staff newsletters and updates.
Access the Learning from West Sussex Reviews presentation.
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UPDATED: Pan-Sussex Safeguarding Thresholds
Following the recent review of our Pan-Sussex Safeguarding Thresholds document, the updated version is now available on the Core safeguarding policies and protocols page of our website.
The main changes are:
- Introduction section now encourages the use of professional judgement when making the decision to report a safeguarding concern.
- Additional links throughout the document to provide key information and direct readers to relevant policies/protocols.
- Amendments to terminology which could be deemed confusing, including ‘isolated incident’ and ‘harm’, to align with the Care Act 2014.
- Review of categories of abuse, removing or amending unhelpful examples.
- References section added at the end of the guidance.
Thank you very much to all who provided useful feedback for this review process, we really do value it. Please can you now kindly ensure all staff in your agencies are aware of the updated document for use when they are considering raising a safeguarding concern.
UPDATED: Pan-Sussex Adult Death Protocol
Our Sussex Adult Death Protocol (ADP) has been updated following a review with statutory partners and an extensive period of development.
We have published the updated protocol along with a newly created referral form and accompanying podcast. The updated protocol no longer includes exemptions of self-neglect, suicide and drug related deaths due to potentially missing early identification of criminal involvement by third parties. The referral form helps referrers identify that the circumstance of the adult death meets the criteria for the ADP.
As a reminder, the purpose of the ADP is to identify deaths of adults within the community or care settings where there is an indication of abuse and neglect. The abuse or neglect is not only when it relates to the circumstances of their death but can also be recent abuse or neglect in their lives.
The ADP provides a framework for establishing an agreed standard between partners to:
- Ensure an effective and consistent multi-agency response that will support agencies of the Sussex SABs to meet the requirements of legislation, national and local guidance and practice standards around appropriate responses to unexpected adult deaths involving abuse and neglect.
- Ensure clarity and consistency of procedures across organisations of the Sussex Safeguarding Adult Boards.
- Develop arrangements that support efficiency in partnership working to identify potential criminal offences or when there is a need to conduct investigations into unexpected adult deaths.
On our website you will find links to:
Please ensure you use our website to access all documents to make sure only current versions are used. We would be grateful if you could please share this information with staff in your agency to make sure all staff know when to make an ADP referral.
NEW DIGITAL RESOURCE: An Introduction to the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board
We are pleased to let you know that the West Sussex Learning and Development Gateway has worked with us to create a new digital resource: An Introduction to the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board.
The resource is a short e-learning course, featuring a series of short animated videos. It will guide you through who we are, what we do, and what resources we have available to support you in your safeguarding practice.
You can access this resource via the Learning and Development Gateway; you will find it in the ‘Featured Courses’ section. Please note that the Gateway has recently been re-launched with a new site. If you require assistance with logging into the Gateway, you will find ‘Support & Login Instructions’ on the site.
Please do share this widely within your organisations, and of course, we always want to hear your feedback to SafeguardingAdultsBoard@westsussex.gov.uk.
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Quality Assurance and Safeguarding Information Group achievements
Our Quality Assurance and Safeguarding Information Group (QASIG) works collaboratively to improve the safety of care services within West Sussex, through early information sharing and intervention within appropriate systems e.g. regulation, quality monitoring, safeguarding and other governance systems, and plays a key role in prevention.
At a recent QASIG meeting, members discussed the value of the subgroup and in doing so, felt it was important to acknowledge progress and share some recent achievements, as outlined below.
- There are now fewer services on the Provider Concerns Framework, evidencing the positive impact of collaborative work across agencies.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings for providers in West Sussex have improved, which could also have been impacted by effective collaborative working across West Sussex County Council (WSCC), Health and CQC.
- High and low reporting provider reports are produced and shared with the group quarterly, which provides data on services within West Sussex who are reporting either a high or low number of safeguarding concerns. This data is being monitored more closely by QASIG, with appropriate action being taken.
- Providers who are experiencing difficulties are generally already known to the group, and are being supported through relevant means.
- The providers reporting a low number of concerns are contacted and given useful information, links and learning resources for promotion within their services. The providers are asked to complete a questionnaire on safeguarding awareness, training, reporting, and recording within their services. All low reporting providers returned their questionnaires, highlighting no issues and providing assurance to Board around the low levels of safeguarding concerns they had reported.
Members find QASIG to be an incredibly positive and valuable information sharing platform, which results in less duplication of effort across the system and less disruption for providers in West Sussex.
Find out more about the work of the QASIG subgroup on our website.
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